The present invention is a one piece molded plastic strain relief lay in bushing, which is engagable substantially without protrusion from an aperture or chassis, where no ninety degree bends are provided for. The one piece molded strain relief bushing is retrofitable in existing installations and provides effective strain relief from within the normal inside portion of a chassis or mounting wall.
A single molded strain relief bushing is adapted to receive a wide range of wire, cable or bundles of wire or cable, of different diameters which may be laid into the open bushing configuration, either manually or by machine automation. The wire, cable or bundles of wire or cable, of different diameter are secured in the bushing in lazy bend strain relief engagement. The head of the molded strain relief bushing is split and flanged. The head may be optionally closed and/or locked and the bushing engaged in an aperture.
The hinged head on the body has one portion contiguous with the channel. The well and key receiving means at the well enable wire or cable to be laid in the channel, locked into the channel in strain relief engagement and the head folded over the wire or cable and then have the strain relief bushing engaged in an aperture. The function of holding the wire or cable is separate from the function of engaging the strain relief bushing.
A single sized bushing may accept a wide variety of laid in wire, cable or bundles of wire or cable, of different diameter, to accommodate the varying needs of the electrical and electronic component industry. The assembly is automatable and labor saving and the molded strain relief bushing of the present invention is inexpensive to produce.
Assembly of electrical or electronic components has oftentimes required manual assembly with special tools for cable held in a bushing being snapped into an aperture. The bushing with cable engaged usually locked itself in strain relief engagement once in an aperture. The bushings of the past themselves generally comprised two portions joined by some form of webbing. The webbing oftentimes complicated the engagement of the cable in the bushing. Such bushings of the past were usually mounted with small flanges extending outside the chassis or wall unless there was special provision for a ninety degree bend in the wire or cable.
There were usually different bushings for different cable or wire sizes and different aperture sizes. The bushings of the past themselves generally comprised two portions joined by some form of webbing. Such bushings of the past generally depended upon the engagement in the aperture to provide strain relief.
The present invention is a structurally simple strain relief bushing with a lock for wire, cable or bundles of wire or cable, of different diameter in a well and a separate foldable head portion, which is engagable in an aperture and optionally lockable to itself. The structure of the bushing enables effective automated assembly of cable and bushing, effective locking of the bushing and cable, economy of size, maximum strength, ease of insertion of the assembled bushing and cable into a aperture. The molded strain relief bushing of the present invention reduces the number of different bushing constructions necessary to meet the needs of different panel thicknesses and the need for many different apertures of different sizes for different wire, cable or bundles of wire or cable, of different diameter and the need for many different strain relief bushings for different apertures and wire, cable or bundles of wire or cable, of different diameter.